SCISSION V - THE GREAT DELUSION - I
In its chronology of the years, for 1561 Wikipedia
lists an odd entry for April 14: 'The citizens of Nuremberg see what
appears to be an aerial battle followed by the appearance of a large
black triangular object and a large crash (with smoke) outside the
city. A news notice (early form of newspaper) was printed 10 days later
(April 14) describing the event1|.'
Image taken from news 'broadsheet'
at Nuremberg, Germany, in April,
1561.
Some have explained the phenomenon
as a 'sundog' - ice crystals reflecting
sunlight. It is not clear if this
explanation would account for the
large black 'triangle'.
The incident seems to have come
to modern attention in C. G. Jung's
'Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of
Things Seen in the Skies'.
Much attention has been given to this event as well as a similar event
in Basle, Switzerland five years later in August, 1566. Well preserved
news 'broadsheets' exist in German public archives of both events.
Besides odd [woodcut] graphics the accompanying texts vividly describe
astounding aerial phenomena of 'battles' and 'fiery crashes'. Some of
the craft resembled crosses, some discs and some cylinders. Obviously a
large black 'spear-shaped' object intervened late in the melee.
It is not within the scope of this work to explain what these events
might have actually been, only to establish that it is believed that
they did happen and are well documented. What is curious is that, at
that time, these events were interpreted as being a religious warning
to residents to repent of sin and to turn to God. Perhaps the
appearance of 'crosses' emphasized this analysis.
Today the web is bulging with web sites explaining how these events
represent UFO ['unidentified flying object' or 'extra-terrestrial
spaceship'] incidents. They unanimously interpret it as a 'war in the
skies' between various types of extra-terrestrial UFO's. Why 'alien
spaceships' should be doing battle over Renaissance Europe is left
unexplained.
If this author were to favor the former interpretation, that it was a
call to repentance, he would surely be called a religious bigot,
provincial, narrow minded. What has happened that the body politic has
come to believe more in space aliens than in Divine manifestation?
As a Bible reader we Christians believe that the disciples saw Jesus
ascend into heaven as written at the end of John's Gospel. We believe
that Peter, James and John saw Moses and Elijah on the Mount of
Transfiguration as described in Matthew 17. Surely Ezekiel saw the Merkabah
chariot: the Divine Throne Chariot. Bible readers surely believe that
Jacob saw a 'ladder' into heaven with angels ascending and descending
as described in Genesis 28. Isaiah 6 says that he saw the Lord upon a throne high and
lifted up, His train filling the temple.
Why would we, today, find it hard to believe that there was an aerial
display, perhaps by angels and even demon spirits, perhaps a staged
drama in order to remind European Christians not to lose sight of their
faith in the burgeoning Renaissance of learning?
Gervase of Tilbury (England, ca. 1150 – ca. 1228) wrote a book, Otia imperialia2|,
considered a 'bagful of foolish old woman's tales' by the philosopher
Gottfried Leibniz, who edited parts of the manuscript3|.
The Condon Report [1968] on UFO's4|,
section 5, chapter 1, 'UFOs in History', refers to this medieval
manuscript thus: '1270 A. D. [sic;
?] Bristol, England: "In Otto
Imperialia,
Book I, Chapter XIII, Gervase of Tillbury wrote about an aerial craft
over a city. The craft caught an anchor in a church steeple and a
occupant of the ship scampered down a ladder to free the device. The
man was stoned by a crowd and asphyxiated in the earth's atmosphere.
The `demon's body´
was said to have been burned." This story is to be
found in several UFO books, and is quoted in Let's Face the
Facts about Flying Saucers, (1967) by Warren Smith and Gabriel
Green,
President of the Amalgamated Flying Saucer Clubs of America5|.'
Some reports quote Gervase as saying the Bishop forbade the
congregation to harm the 'man' and the craft severed the anchor and
'sailed' away. This account states that the anchor was still embeded in
the steeple at the time the author wrote.
Again we are forced to consider the contradiction: was the live figure
perceived as a 'demon' or a 'space alien'? Was it a human figure? ...a
'spirit figure'? ...a strange 'alien' figure? At the time it was
unquestionably perceived as a 'demon'. Today it is unquestionably
perceived as an extra-terrestrial 'alien'.
To this author one of the greatest difficult
to explain enigmas
is the ruins and artifacts of Puma Punku [see Scission III.] Modern
engineers have
examined the complex - yet carefully cut and shaped - diorite stones,
many
of which are perfect duplicates of each other, and declared that they
could not accomplish such a feat without computer-controlled diamond
cutting devices. They claim that the only substance more durable than
diorite is diamond. Others have claimed that they have reproduced the
same results with simple tools6|.
Again, it is not within the scope of this work to determine what
exactly occurred 'back in dim history'. By some unknown method someone
was able to fabricate complicated otherwise unmatched stone work at
some undetermined date at the Puma Punku site. Yet we find popular
commentators today claiming that the only answer to the mystery is
'ancient aliens'.
Program image from the
History Channel of the
series 'Ancient Aliens'
Perhaps they are right; however, where is the proof? Just the fact that
we today cannot conceive how a 'primitive' society could accomplish
such a mysterious feat is not proof that some advanced
extra-terrestrial culture must be responsible. Where are the machining
artifacts? The fact that all the deep sea oil drilling rigs are
currently absent from the Gulf of Mexico does not mean that they were
never there.
No less a respected scholar than the Egyptologist Flinders Petrie (3
June, 1853 – 28 July, 1942) believed that some sort of stone cutting machinery may have been used to
fashion stone, and he displayed a stone
with a groove that appears to be an accidental slip of a cutting blade7|.
These probable saw grooves
are found in paving stones
east of the Great Pyramid,
Giza Plateau, Egypt.
What is the biggest argument against an advanced technological ancient
culture, in favor of extra-terrestrial technicians? The widely believed
doctrine that not only have humans been evolving over long periods of
time but so also has their technology and their intelligence. As
'obvious' as this may seem, there might be evidence to the contrary;
AND, that evidence might be suppressed by a few disciples of the
Darwinian religion. This
author labels Darwinism as
'religion' because
its disciples believe by faith
that they are right and thus have a
right to silence all opposition.
Does this sound extreme? Just in the past few years we have seen
proponents of anthropogenic global warming loudly demanding the right
to do just that to their nay-sayers. The whole tawdry affair is
reminiscent of the Inquisition suppressing any idea that the world was
not flat, nor that the earth revolved around the sun. None of this
should characterize 'science'. The word
'science' derives from the Latin word scientia
meaning 'to know', 'to
have knowledge'.
The Inca culture managed a huge empire that covered most of the Pacific
coastal and Andean region of South America for centuries. Population
estimates vary from about 4 million to 37 million people at its height.
The Inca had no written language. How did they administer such a large
area for so long? They raised taxes, recorded properties, built roads,
defended against intrusions and maintained an education system.
Furthermore, it is uncertain how much of the incredible megalithic
structures they built such as those found at Cusco and Machu Picchu,
Peru.
All that we know from the Colonial Spanish is that the Inca used
the quipu, a system using a series of
knotted cords that reportedly
predated the Inca by a few millenia. Some quipu had up to 2,000 cords,
each with many knots along their length. No one today is familiar with
how the quipu system worked, how to 'read' it, due to colonial
destruction. Would such a system carry the vast administrative burden
of empire as well as the technology to build megalithic wonders and to
keep track of a dual calendar [solar and lunar]?
An example of a fairly
complex Incan quipu
from the Larco Museum
in Lima, Peru
Perhaps the Inca had total recall [note how the article assumes the
phenomenon is new.] One aspect of that today
is called 'photographic memory' or eidetic memory, but it need not be
limited to
visual memories.
There are those that doubt that such a phenomenon is possible.
Cognitive scientist Marvin Minsky writes, '...we often hear about
people with "photographic memories" that enable them to quickly
memorize all the fine details of a complicated picture or a page of
text in a few seconds. So far as I can tell, all of these tales are
unfounded myths, and only professional magicians or charlatans can
produce such demonstrations8|.'
The magazine Scientific American
relates that the phenomenon today occurs most prevalently among
children and can be interfered with by any sort of concurrent verbal
utterance9|.
Oddly, this book is also sub-titled 'The Haphazard Construction of the
Human Mind' in some listings. Of this university psychology professor Publsiher's Weekly
writes that Marcus, 'keenly identifies the makeshift devices humans
have created in order to contend with what he describes as
"evolutionary inertia."' Booklist
adds, 'Marcus latches onto the term kluge,
which comes from the engineering world and is jargon for a fix that
ain’t perfect but good enough.'
The prevalence of total recall today is not documented, but it is
apparently quite rare. Some experts think the phenomenon is due to
mis-wiring in the brain10|. If
children show some eidetic ability in
the absence of verbal utterance but tend to lose it with advancing age
perhaps we are evolving away from total recall.
Archaeologists tell us that pre-Inca civilizations in the Andean region
[Caral, Chavin, Nazca, Moche - to name a few] likely also used the
quipu, perhaps back to 3,000 BCE. Certainly they built some fantastic
megalithic structures, many astronomically aligned, requiring a learned
system of mathematics.
Lower portion of page 9 of the
Dresden Codex showing the
classic Maya language written in
Mayan hieroglyphs (from the
1880 Förstermann edition).
This graphic is also identified as
page 9c, Almanac 28. The figures
are identified as Itzamna and The
Death God (God A); contains eight
day interval groups. [See p.
64 et fol.]
We know the Mayans of Mesoamerica had a hieroglyphic language with
which they accomplished great technological and mathematical feats. How
about pre-Mayan cultures? Could the Olmecs have possessed total recall
in the absence of a written language? They had built a huge pyramid,
discovered the mathematical concept of zero and apparently had a rather
sophisticated calendar similar in some respects to the Mayan calendar.
It could have been quite possible to believe that the Olmecs had total
recall
until 2002; in 2002 possible language symbols were found dated to 650
BCE and later in 2006 more symbols believed to be language dated
to 900 BCE11|.
The latter is known as the Cascajal
Block, a piece of
serpentine stone that shows a set of 62 symbols, 28 of which are
unique. However, its location when found is not certain and many of the
characters displayed show no resemblance to any other Mesoamerican
writing system, leading some scholars to be skeptical that it
represents a true Olmec writing system12|.
Earlier we mentioned Chaco Canyon in northern New Mexico. We pointed
out that they built large complex stone structures possibly of a
ceremonial nature. We mentioned astronomical alignments of their
building complexes and inter-linking roads. They had a stone 'solar'
monument to mark the seasons. Yet there is no mention by scholars that
they possessed any writing system.
We also earlier discussed Göbekli Tepe, which experts tell us may have
taken two millenia to complete by primitives. Could such a vast complex
have been developed over such a long period of time without some record
of the design and the goal? This author cannot even go to the grocery
store without a shopping list. It would seem that some adjustment needs
to be made; either the construction by hunter-gatherers took a lot less
time than thought, or somehow they were able to keep records to remind
them of what they were trying to accomplish. . . or, they may have had
total
recall.
We are unlikely to ever know if such early civilizations had eidetic
recall. We are more unlikely to ever believe it, because it would imply
that these ancient cultures were possibly more 'intelligent', better
mentally developed, than we are today - a Darwinian impossibility.
Capitalism as an economic pursuit dates to at least the second century
BCE. Early historic accounts credit the beginnings to the Assyrian
Empire13|,
but it is likely that the eldest civilization [to current
historians], Sumer, pursued a broadening trading area. Lying on the
edge of sandy desert on the alluvial soils of Mesopotamia, Sumer needed
to obtain a wide variety of goods and riches in order to sustain
itself. Certainly they were awash in gold which would have had to come
from distant mountains and mines. Petroleum and its by products such as
bitumen ['pitch'], as well as grains and textiles, were Mesopotamian
goods that were in demand from somewhat distant areas.
Certainly the extensive trade of the early second century BCE Assyrians
is better documented. 'Caravans' existed in the region connecting
Mesopotamia [and points east?] with Anatolia, Canaan, Egypt and via the
Mediterranean Sea, Greece, Carthage and eventually Rome. The
Mediterranean trade brings up the image of multiple sea routes
established early in the history of civilization, especially in the
eastern Mediterranean. We encounter a later example of this in the
Apostle Paul's journey to Rome under military escort on a merchant
vessel.
Such a vast area of exchange and trade gave rise to problems such as
banditry and piracy. When monarchs, or wealthy merchants, sent trade
missions abroad they often sent military protection against such
opportunists. Also, just as in modern times when diplomacy and
espionage fail to accomplish goals set by a state, military aggression
was often utilized by kings and merchant 'unions' when trade advantages
could not be established otherwise.
Perhaps this author will be forgiven should he wrongly posit that
modern civilization really developed on the back of capitalism and
enterprise, and that that is true from the earliest days of advanced
civilizations. It continues in various aspects right up to modern times.
The competition of seeking technological advantage has given rise to
global adventures today, and that is carried out on a principle of
'free trade' capitalism. While war can give rise to advancing
technology, it cannot turn it into profit without trade.
It would seem that the bias of Darwinism has led many in the world to
believe that the answer to global growth is no longer 'free enterprise'
carried on by capitalistic societies. Rather, there is aggressive
argument in today's 'global economy' that governments can carry on
trade best, and socialism / communism [Marxism] yields better social
end results than freely practiced capitalistic trade. Pure capitalism,
we are told, only gives rise to greed, aggression and monopolistic
wealth. By these thinkers, the past has proven that capitalism only
leaves large portions of society in poverty and want while a rich
'ruling class' turns a blind eye.
Some of this is true, and has always been true - and will always be
true, dictated by human nature. Jesus said, 'The poor you have with you
always.' Modern politicians can take advantage of this by making the
populace think that they have no chance to enjoy wealth and leisure
without the intervention of... well, politicians. History has
repeatedly shown that there is no way to confidently predict where
wealth will occur, nor where failure will occur. Luck and circumstances
have contributed greatly to such capitalistic outcomes.
Some years ago this author took occasion to write the late and renowned
Sumerologist, Samuel Noah Kramer. The subject involved a Sumerian word,
a cosmological / social concept set in the center of Sumerian thinking,
one the scholar claimed they were unable to accurately translate.
Still, because they had analyzed the rest of Sumerian laws and
cosmology, the word's precise definition seemed less important.
In Chapter 13 of his book, History
Begins at Sumer, Dr. Kramer writes this observation:
The more
mature and reflective Sumerian thinker had the mental capacity of
thinking logically and coherently on many problems, including those
concerned with the origin and operation of the universe. His stumbling
block was the lack of scientific data at his disposal. Furthermore he
lacked such fundamental intellectual tools as definition and
generalization, and had practically no insight into the processes of
growth and development, since the principle
of evolution, which seems so obvious now, was entirely unknown
to him14|.'
[emphasis added]
This author pointed out that such an analysis was unlikely to ever
yield the translation of the term in question, because the implications
were so unsettling as to force a rethinking of the whole Sumerian
pantheon of gods. The museum staff responded with a terse letter
suggesting that a book entitled The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man15|
might prove helpful to this writer's understanding. It is
published by the prestigious Oriental Institute of the University of
Chicago.
Thinking that an exchange of ideas was being initiated, the book was
purchased and read - almost. Early in the introduction, 'Myth and
Reality', it is stated, 'The ancients, like modern savages. . .' This
author read on to about page 50, but it was obvious that our two
approaches to viewing ancient man were irreconcilable. Admittedly, the
previous statement is unfairly taken out of context, and some
well-considered thought was embodied in the book; still, our views were
simply incompatible. Some quotes from the text might prove revealing.
'Primitive man has only one mode of thought, one mode of expression,
one part of speech - the personal.' 'Primitive man simply does not know
an inanimate world.' 'Ancient man had not thought out an answer; an
answer had been revealed to him.'
To this author it seems that the difference of approach is simply the
difference of a scientific
view vs a spiritual view.
Just as the aerial
phenomenon at Nuremberg mentioned earlier elicited a contemporary
response of spiritual warfare
in the skies, and today is scientifically
explained by warfare between competing extra-terrestrials, it seems
that ancient man has simply been minimized by evolution.
In the first paragraph to Chapter 19 Dr. Kramer refers to the Bible as
a 'vibrant and dynamic literary creation16|.'
Admitting that the Hebrew
Bible shared heavily with ancient Sumerian textual 'resemblances', the
Sumerian
scholars were still unable to work backwards and analyze Sumerian
cosmology in light of Old Testament revelations. Again, this could be
the bias of Darwinism, the concept that things are almost always moving
forward, and rarely moving backwards. In other words, they might have
shared a common source.
After all, when we think of 'ancient man', we are addressing those that
built the Great Pyramid, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the huge
megalithic structures at Göbekli Tepe and Stonehenge, the enigmatic
'architectural' stones at Puma Punku. The authors of The Intellectual
Adventure of Ancient Man believe that the pyramids were a
conceptual
cosmological recreation of the primeval hill on which original
primitive life first crawled out of the primordial soup17|. To
the
spiritual mind this secular view approximates complete
dehumanization and renders
humans as simply animals, just the same as a lion or a monkey.
Hill or pyramid?
We see this drastic difference in philosophy all throughout modern
life. To the believers in evolution there are no moral absolutes,
because animals are not bound by moral absolutes; they are not bound by
anything but instinct. Recently this author heard a leading educator
directing children to 'follow their own moral code.' To the spiritual
mind, this concept equates with total anarchy and consequential
societal destruction. . . and one suspects that that will be the
ultimate outcome.
—————————————————————————————————
[All web links acquired in Summer
of 2014]
1| 1561, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1561
The information is
footnoted to: news notice - Link to Zurich
Library digital archive (2 pages) ( http://opac.nebis.ch/F?local_base )
2| 1210-1214 CE; Gervase of Tilbury, Otia
Imperialia; Oxford Medieval Texts, Oxford (2002).
3| In his Scriptores rerum
Brunsvicensium, vol. I; (Hanover, 1710).
4| Dr. Edward U. Condon, Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying
Objects (Conducted by the University
of Colorado under contract No. 44620-67-C-0035
With the United States Air Force), 1968. Digital
edition © 1999 by National Capital Area
Skeptics (NCAS): http://files.ncas.org/condon/ .
5| Ibid, http://files.ncas.org/condon/text/s5chap01.htm .
6| http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=92390
While the poster eckersonian
seemed to have
agreed with this author about keeping an open
mind about the enigmas of Puma Punka, the 'expert'
appears arrogant and condescending without
offering any pertinent scientific argument or evidence.
7| http://www.theglobaleducationproject.org/egypt/index.php
Further see:
http://www.theglobaleducationproject.org/egypt/articles/stonetech.php
Also see: By Christopher P.
Dunn, Advanced Machining in Ancient Egypt, et fol.
8| Marvin Minsky, Society of Mind;
Simon & Schuster, p. 153; (1998).
9| Alan Searleman, 'Is there such a thing as a photographic memory? And
if so, can it be learned?';
Scientific
American, March 12, 2007. Also see:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=is-there-such-a-thing-as
10| Andrea Goldstein, 'Photographic Memory: A Look at Eidetic Imagery
in the Brain'; Serendip, April,
2006. See at: http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro06/web2/agoldstein.html
11| Mary Pohl, Kevin O. Pope, and Christopher von Nagy, 'Olmec Origins
of Mesoamerican Writing';
Science
298 (5600): 1984–1987; (2002).
12| Karen O. Bruhns, Nancy L. Kelker, et. al., 'Did the Olmec Know How
to Write?'; Science,
9 March 2007; Vol. 315 no. 5817 pp. 1365-1366.
Also see:
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/315/5817/1365.2.citation
13| David Warburton, 'Macroeconomics from the beginning: The General
Theory, Ancient Markets, and
the Rate of Interest'; Paris: Recherches et Publications, p. 49;
2003.
14| Samuel Noah Kramer, 'History Begins at Sumer: Twenty-seven "Firsts"
in Man's Recorded History';
1959/2ed , 1956/1ed (25 firsts), 1981/3ed (39
firsts); University of Pennsylvania Press, p. 81; (1959).
15| Henri Frankfort, et al., 'The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient
Man: An Essay on Speculative Thought
in the Ancient Near East', Chicago: University
of Chicago Press; (1977).
16| Op. cit., p. 143.
17| Op. cit., pp. 21-22, etc.
